!! The book
* ImprovedSecondAttempt: Compared to ''Literature/{{Plutonia}}'', written several years earlier.
** The book has a RecycledPremise from ''Plutonia'', but it's executed a lot better. ''Sannikov Land'' has a way stronger plot (in contrast to the RandomEventsPlot from ''Plutonia'' with only a couple of actual story arcs) and well-developed characters (while the explorers in ''Plutonia'' are almost interchangeable and the FrazettaMan Plutonians are barely sapient).
** The heroes' [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman attitude]] towards the Paleolithic cultures is considerably more humane. In ''Plutonia'', the characters are perfectly okay with holding a Paleolithic woman against her will. Here, when the explorers raid a Vampu camp (Vampu are likewise at the Paleolithic stage of development), Goryunov has a HeelRealization and decides to leave some of their own things to the Vampu in compensation.
!! The film
* AdaptationDisplacement: The film is better-known (in no small part thanks to the beautiful songs) than the book. The book’s covers nowadays can even be based on the film’s depictions of the characters.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ-hnn1UASQ There is just a flash]]" sung by Oleg Anofriev.
* CompleteMonster:
** [[AdaptationalVillainy The Onkilon shaman]] is a cruel, power-hungry sadist HidingBehindReligion. After he fears the explorers' group would undermine his authority, he tries to persuade the chief to get them killed, and when the chief refuses, the shaman has Dukkar kill him, and seizes the power for himself. As a cataclysm stops geyser activity in Sannikov Land, the shaman [[LackOfEmpathy doesn't care]] that the rest of the Onkilons, who unlike him who don't know how to make fire, might freeze to death, as long as he gets his revenge on the explorers. With MindRape and some physical harassment, the shaman manipulates Goshar, a sweet and trusting Onkilon woman, into helping him against the explorers by first dosing them with a sleeping potion and, when that fails, by setting a trap. The latter is successful in luring Gubin, one of the explorers' group, out of hiding, and the shaman decides to torture him with a pitchfork so that his screams would lure out the rest of the group, and dies while trying to [[EyeScream put out Gubin's eyes]].
** [[TheDragon Dukkar]] is an Onkilon warrior held in high esteem by the chief. He dislikes the explorers from the start and immediately offers to kill them. His hatred of them is cemented after he [[JealousRomanticWitness overhears Annuir]], after whom he lusts and who previously rejected him, confessing her love for Ilyin, head of the explorers' group. When the chief decides he won't have the explorers sacrificed, Dukkar allies with the shaman and eagerly agrees to murder the chief, which he does, stabbing him from behind while [[HuntingAccident he is hunting]]. After that, Dukkar becomes the shaman's second-in-command. When the shaman has the idea of forcing Goshar to help them, Dukkar brings her to him and participates in her harassment. Dukkar prepares poisoned arrows to kill the explorers as painfully as possible and intends to [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty take Annuir for himself]] after they are dead. Even after the shaman is killed and the previous chief's son takes over, Dukkar doesn't let go of his plans and, tracking down the explorers, shoots Ignaty, a harmless, bumbling LovableCoward, for no discernible motive other that bloodlust.
* NarmCharm: The shaman is a rather flat character that seems to be entirely made of worn-out clichés, but Makhmud Esambayev’s performance makes him utterly terrifying, and his voice can make your blood run cold.
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